Still Out of Reach
Chapter 01
All rights reserved © 2010 by Ernest Bywater
Fifteen Years On
Eight years after Melissa’s university graduation EC Investments is a billion dollar operation due to very good management and investment choices as well as royalties and sales of Ernie’s work. Melissa’s personal wealth is now a few hundred million, but few know this. With the birth of her seventh child the previous year the doctors advised Melissa to not have any more children due to concerns for her health. Emily is on her eighth pregnancy. The family has outgrown the Cable House, as it’s now called, and the older children live with their Great Aunt Mary in the house behind them. Melissa and Emily agree for Emily to stop at ten children and the remaining sperm will be made available to anyone else in the Cable Company who wishes to have a child by Ernie.
In the mid-semester school holidays Emily is at home with all of the children under ten years of age while Melissa has the rest with her on a visit to a small African nation with Tom, Vanessa, Pearl, Nancy, Jenny, and other well known members of the Cable Company. For the last several years the Cable Foundation has been spending money to research a cure and treatments for a major illness that’s had a serious effect on the African nation by killing many of its people. They’ve had some success and a treatment project has been going on for the last two years that’s sponsored by the World Health Organisation and is heavily funded by the Cable Company. It’s now drawing to a close with the last of the known infected people being treated and the last of the population being vaccinated against it. The Australian visitors are there to take part in a ceremony welcoming the end of the dark shadow this disease has been over the country. Of the twenty-five official adult guests in the party twenty-one of them are Australians and the rest represent the United Nations as well as the USA, UK, and Holland - the other contributors to the project. Melissa brought along five of her and Emily’s children with thirty other children from The Cable Company families, including the older children of those in the official party.
The party arrives several days before the ceremony to do some sightseeing and learn about the country first hand. The morning of the day before the ceremony the whole group is in the country’s capital city and they’re getting ready for the day. The children are scheduled to spend the morning visiting a local orphanage to give them boxes of toys and educational materials they’ve brought along, while the adults will go over what they’re doing during the ceremony tomorrow to make sure everything goes just right. This is the first time the children have been separated from the adults, and since the adults are staying in the special compound made available to them by the government Melissa is sending all five of her personal security guards, who are all ex-Australian SAS soldiers, with the children as a boost to the small group of local Army soldiers assigned as security. The security is needed because there’s still some inter-tribal violence that occurs in the country and no one can be sure when or where it will break out because old hatreds die hard.
While the children are getting ready and carrying the boxes of gifts out to load on the buses Melissa is watching a short altercation between the Captain who’s been in charge of their security until now and a Major from another unit, a unit she knows of from briefings by the Australian Embassy staff. The Captain isn’t happy when he’s handed written orders and he reads them. He calls his troops over and has them form up to leave and return to barracks. This worries Melissa because she’d seen a small group of generals arguing earlier, and on spotting her they entered an office. A few minutes later the group left, short one general. She’s wondered about that since it happened.
Warnings
The replaced Captain approaches Melissa to say, “Missus Cable, I’m sorry I won’t be able to watch over your children like I promised. I’ve been ordered off this detail and a new unit is taking over.”
Melissa smiles at him while nodding her understanding as she says, “Don’t change your expression at all. I think we’re in the middle of an attempt to change the government by force. Take your men and leave, then get as many men as you can trust to obey you and go to the orphanage to protect my children, please. We’ll manage here, somehow, but the children must be safe because they’re our future.”
Although shocked by her words he smiles while he acknowledges them and he promises to ensure the safety of the children. On leaving the compound he directs half of the vehicles to go to the orphanage and the rest to trail the children’s convoy while he races off in a car to organise extra troops and spread the word of her suspicions to those he trusts.
Melissa’s concern is a very real one because the country has several different tribes in it and the two major tribes have been jostling for power since the Europeans left, over sixty years ago. The country has many natural resources which it sells for international currency; but so much has been spent on rebuilding following the many revolutions and wars it’s still in deep poverty. The President and the Captain belong to the same major tribe while the troops replacing them belong to the other major tribe. This sort of pre-placement of troops around potential International hostages would be just what a group of rebelling generals would do whenever they can. The Captain must warn the President and get extra troops for the children, like he promised.
She approaches her own security people and has three of them help her to bring down six more boxes for the orphanage from her room, but not until after she shows them the guns and ammunition she placed in the bottom of the boxes just a little while ago.
Melissa walks over to the buses taking the children and has them form up beside the buses. She addresses them, saying, “Now I want you all to take a special note of how things are different here to at home. I also want you to pay very close attention to all those local people you’ve come to know so well who’ll be giving you protection on this visit.” This is confusing to them because they’ve all just changed and none of those they know are going with them. The confusion ends for most with her next statement. “I know you all have your ounces with you, and I want you to use them wisely, understand?” Many heads nod in agreement when all of the members of the Cable Company get the hidden meaning in her talk while the few non-Cable Company children don’t understand it, nor do the locals. The children, and those going with them, board the buses and leave for the orphanage.
The Major in charge of the new security detail approaches Melissa, and asks, “What was that thing about ounces about, what’s it mean?”
She smiles, “In my country we’ve many old sayings from the pre-metric days that use ounce to indicate a very small common measure. Ones like, ’An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.’ It means to take small reasonable precautions and care to avoid a lot of trouble fixing something later, like washing your hands well before eating in a dirty or new environment. Another is, ’An ounce of common sense is worth a pound of apology.’ Meaning to take the time to think about what you’re doing before you do it, so you don’t have to spend lots of time apologising for an avoidable mistake later. Our cultures are different and we’re in your country, so I was reminding our children of that, and that it’s up to them to conform to your way of life here. This is the first time they’ve gone off on a visit without the adults along to see they behave properly, so I was making sure they remembered to watch themselves and to pay attention to your people.” The Captain nods in understanding because it’s a wise warning that appears to have been given in a colloquial Australian way, and it should make the children more responsive to orders from the local military with them.
What he doesn’t realise is it was a warning delivered in a specific Australian colloquial way, one specific to the Cable Company as it refers to a line from a song they all know, The Impossible Dream - ’Still strove with his last ounce of courage.’ It’s an oblique reference to the whole of that verse and for them to prepare to fight with all they have. All of the Cable Company contingent are well versed in martial arts, and the group includes five black belts with four others studying for their black belt. Also, the five security guards Melissa sent along are armed and all are ex-Army, they’d served with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and retired when minor wounds had them downgraded from fit for combat service. They were all recommended to Melissa when she found she needed personal security, and she’s found them to be very good at their work. Unknown to just about everyone with them her guards are armed, despite them having handed over their weapons at the airport on arrival. Within two hours they were armed from weapons Melissa had arranged to be smuggled in because she saw no reason for her to have unarmed security guards, so she acted to protect her people with the best weapons she could get hold of that could be smuggled into the country in the short time she had to make the arrangements.
Walking toward the main building with the Major Melissa pulls out her mobile phone and calls a friend at the Australian Embassy, an external member of the Cable Company. She speaks without saying who it is or where they are because she knows the phone frequencies are probably being monitored and she needs to be very careful in what she says. When the other person answers she’s very quick to say, “Hello, Steve, I’ve been studying and thinking about that business proposal again. I’m very concerned about it because it’s like the bank deal that went wrong on Ernie. Can you please do some more background research on the minor principals and try to organise some good insurance for us. This is clearly a case of an ounce of prevention beating a tonne, and not just a pound, of cure.”
The man she called is someone she went to school with and is in charge of the Australian Embassy security arrangements. He recognizes she’s using a simple code and she believes her current location to be under the control of armed criminals or the like, knowing this country it’s likely rebels and they haven’t made their main move yet. He gets this from the references to the bank and Ernie’s death. He also notes she wants him to warn the others, thus the insurance, and to look into the minority powers in the local government, confirming it’s most probable it’s rebels. He also understands there’s nothing he can do for her or her group and she realises that. After taking a deep breath he replies, “OK, Ma’am, I’ll get onto that without question or pause.” She disconnects and puts her phone away, knowing from him quoting from the song he’ll now do all he can to protect the rest of the foreigners in the country.
At the embassy Steve leaves his office after he tells his subordinate to go to the top security alert level and start warning Australian nationals resident in the country they expect imminent armed unrest. He dashes upstairs to interrupt an important meeting between the Ambassador and the local Minister for Health while they finalise some aspects of the ceremony due tomorrow. He bursts in while saying, “Excuse me, Sir, but I’ve just had some very disturbing news. An extremely solid source has just warned of a rebellion that’s about to launch today.”
Both politician go very pale and stare at him. He says, “The source couldn’t give a time line, but they expect action within the next hour or so. The source is as impeccable as they get, and more reliable than seeing people with guns racing down the streets around the embassy.”
Both men believe he’s serious so they grab for phones to warn people while Steve grabs another and starts calling his counterparts at other embassies, starting with those likely to be of the most use to the rebels.
Back at the compound Melissa goes to her room and gets changed for the meeting, she puts on a large leather skirt with a sturdy vest and carries her briefcase with a lot of papers and things. Since all of their luggage was inspected on arrival the security detail knows no one in the group is armed. But they don’t know Melissa, and she used local contacts to get plenty of arms after they arrived; most are now on the bus, and the rest are now on her or in her briefcase.
Back downstairs she gathers all of the adults together to talk about the ceremony. Instead of going straight into the dining room, where they were planning to talk until lunchtime and have lunch served there, she takes them across the compound to the fitness gym. This has fewer windows and thick, more secure, doors, with a wide open area to cross when approaching it. When asked about the change of venue she tells the Major she feels the talk will be disrupted by the staff preparing the dining room for lunch, so they’ll talk in the gym and move to the dining room when it’s ready because that’ll waste less time while it allows them to concentrate more for longer. At the gym the Major has a platoon set up on the outside of the gym with troops spread out at each of the three exits from the building.
Once inside the building Melissa starts to talk about the ceremony while the Major checks the building before leaving. When he leaves she moves to the two emergency exits and makes sure they’re secured in the proper way because she saw the Major open them a little. While talking she waves a couple of people over to move heavy objects in front of them and to tie them to the release bars on the exits with the nearby skipping ropes; thus making them very secure. The external Cable Company people just do as she indicates while the others stand around and wonder what she’s up to. A few more heavy objects are used to block three of the four doors at the main entrance and are tied to the doors, with some more heavy items handy to block the last door when they need to. Things to stand on are placed near the windows because they’re above head height, so this will allow them to see out and fire out the windows. The oversized one room brick building is soon as ready as it can be to withstand the expected armed attack by rebel troops.
With all else ready Melissa walks to a table in the middle of the room and takes off her large leather skirt. When she flips it onto the table they can see it’s lined with one hundred throwing knives, eight pistols (Glock G31Cs), and forty spare magazines for the pistols. Opening up her briefcase she pulls out two more Glock 31Cs and several boxes of ammunition for the pistols. Looking up at the shocked look on the non-Cable Company people, the Company people aren’t surprised she’s prepared for trouble because it’s typical of her, she says, “We had a change of security personnel despite a promise the guards would never be changed. I think it’s because we’re about to be in the middle of an armed revolution. I don’t intend to be anyone’s hostage. Now I know many of you and I’ve suitable weapons for those I know have the knowledge to use them, the rest of you I’ll ask to help out by reloading magazines as we need them, and to tend to any wounded. If any of you know how to shoot and we get spare weapons turn up, feel free to use them on the rebels.” The people indicated come forward for the pistols and magazines. Turning to Vanessa she says, “Sensei, please assign combat teams.” Vanessa knows the martial arts and weapons skill levels of the Cable Company people present, so she starts assigning them to three person combat teams so they can work to cover each other in the coming combat.
Orphanage Offensive
Melissa’s ex-SAS guards are assigned two per bus and one in the car with the local Army security detail leader. There are only two local Army soldiers on each bus as they’re armed with M16 combat rifles and only have kids to worry about. The lead security car is well ahead of the two buses which have a truck of troops in front of them and another behind the buses.
The car arrives at the orphanage to find the relieved Captain there with his platoon of troops already set out to provide security for the visit. The orphanage children are still in the building. The rest of the Captain’s company is out of sight while all are set and are ready for full combat.
The car stops and the Lieutenant with the replacement unit gets out while two more trucks of troops from his company pull up. This second platoon was told to meet them here to help take the whole orphanage hostage with the western children. Max, the security guard in the car, activates his concealed radio Melissa got for them and says, “So many troops as security for one orphanage, what’s the issue here.” The other security guards go on the alert and are very careful while they draw their concealed pistols. Max approaches the Captain, along with the two officers of the new unit - one for each platoon. They start arguing with the Captain in their own language. When he sees one of the new unit Sergeants start to direct troops to get ready for combat and climb out of the trucks Max triggers the radio and says into his lapel microphone, “Scorpion, scorpion,” while he places his left hand around the Glock in his left trouser pocket.
Max’s call is heard by all four of his other guards and Melissa. On the buses the four guards are quick to raise their pistols and shoot the Army guards on the buses. The drivers jump with the fire, but continue driving as the buses are still several minutes away from the orphanage. The guards know the drivers are loyal to the President because they’ve been driving them about since they arrived and they got to know them very well. The senior guard on each bus stands and says, “Company people with firearms training, prove.” Some hands go up on each bus, eight on the front bus and five on the back bus. The guards hand out Glocks and spare magazines from the boxes Melissa gave them to those who know how to use them, and have those people move to the front and the back of the buses. This leaves a few weapons left over, but it’s better to have extras than let unskilled people have them. Luckily for them three people on each bus know how to use rifles and hand guns, so the two best shots are given the M16 rifles and the spare magazines from the dead soldiers. The buses are soon ready to enter the combat zone with the unarmed children being briefed on how to drop to the floor when the shooting starts. The senior guard on each of the buses gives a simple status report on the radio of, “Bravo clear,” and “Charlie clear.”
At the compound Melissa jerks up at Max’s warning, but settles down when she hears the responses from the buses. She gives her people the nod the action has started elsewhere.
At the orphanage Max moves away from the officers while he readies to fire. Then the Sergeant yells something and several soldiers lift their rifles to shoot the Captain and the squad with him. On hearing the Sergeant’s order they hit the ground, and Max follows suit because it seems like a good idea. When the Lieutenants draw their pistols Max shoots them just before a solid wall of rifle fire comes from the orphanage windows to rip the troops at the trucks apart. In less than twenty seconds of fire the combat is over and all of the new soldiers are dead or dying. More troops rush out of the orphanage to throw the dead onto the trucks before moving the bullet riddled trucks out of sight while others pour dirt over the spilt blood and pick up the expended rounds.
The Captain approaches Max and says, “I know you were disarmed at the airport and I have no idea how you came by that, but I’ll not ask how. Thank you.” He turns and sets his troops to be ready for the trucks and buses due to arrive.
Max follows him while saying, “My men on the bus already have them under control and we’ve several armed people on each bus now. That’s sure to be a big surprise for the bad guys when they get here.”
The Captain stops and smiles at him, “That’s good to know, because our biggest worry was how we got the soldiers on the bus without hurting the children. The bad guys, as you call them, are the Leopard Regiment and the personal troops of General Marundi. He’s the senior chief of our country’s second largest tribe, and I think your boss is right in thinking he’s staging a rebellion today. I and my troops are from the Lion Regiment and we’re all members of the same tribe as the President. I wish we could get past the tribal loyalties and past blood feuds to move on, but it seems we can’t.” He turns to pass orders not to fire at the buses under any circumstances because they’ve armed friendlies on board, while Max passes a detailed situation report to his people.
On the buses the guards rearrange the students and instruct the drivers on what to do. All of the armed people will be along the one side of the bus and the drivers will pull up behind the trucks so that side is facing the trucks while all of the unarmed students will hit the floor when the shooting starts.
The vehicles pull up at the orphanage and the Sergeants in charge of the trucks are surprised to see the car but no other trucks and no troops. The trucks pull up at their agreed spots, and are very surprised when the buses go on into the yard but pull up on the other side facing out when they’re supposed to pull up right at the front steps. They’re not surprised when troops pour out of the orphanage armed and ready for combat as expected, but are shocked to see they wear the uniform patches of the Lions and not the Leopards. When they respond to this threat and bring their weapons up the Lions take cover and open fire. The Leopards start to exit the trucks, only to come under heavy and accurate fire from the totally unexpected direction of the buses and the extra troops following the bus convoy. It doesn’t take long for the Leopards to be eliminated.
Once troops from the Lions confirm the Leopards are all dead the children leave the buses and take the gifts into the orphanage. With the children inside the orphanage the visit starts to go as planned while the Lions set up a secure perimeter to protect them against any further attacks.
The Captain makes a report on the events by phone, so the results will stay secret for a while longer. And Max gives Melissa an update of the situation. She’s glad to know the children are safe and very well protected.
Gymnastics Exercises
General Marundi is concerned he hasn’t yet heard from his nephew who went to the orphanage, but he trusts him so he starts his activities on time. He’s a bit upset the westerners are in the gym and not the dining room, which would’ve allowed him to give a more spectacular display of his power with troops charging in through all of the doors. Approaching the gym with his personal five man bodyguard he stops to give his final instructions to the Major, another nephew. He walks into the gym and looks straight at the striking red headed woman in her mid-thirties who seems to be the unofficial leader of the westerners. There are a few others who are technically of higher precedence due to their positions, but all seem to obey this woman; showing they aren’t real men. He smiles when he steps inside the door to the gym while his bodyguards look at the odd arrangement of the furniture as they try to make sense of it.
The General says, “You’ll all be glad to know you just went up in value, as my hostages to ensure the western countries stay out of this internal fight while I take command of my country.”
He’s shocked when Melissa responds, “Ounce! I’m sorry, but we’re no one’s hostages and you’re ours.” When she spoke the attack phrase of ’ounce’ the people best with throwing knives take out his bodyguards with a quick finger-knife into the forehead while she walks over and strikes his right wrist to break it before she disarms him while Tom gags him. The armed people are quick to move up to the windows and get ready to shoot the troops around the building while others strip weapons from the bodyguards to pass grenades to those near the doors.
The Major gives the word for his troops to open the other exit doors and charge in but they can’t open them, and while they’re fighting with the doors they don’t notice the live grenades dropping amongst them from the windows nearby. A few seconds later the grenades go off and many of the troops die while others start screaming the remains of their lives away. Also, the main doors burst open and armed people come out to shoot the surprised troops who aren’t yet dead. Before the other troops across the open yard can respond the people from the gym kill all of the soldiers around the building, strip them of weapons and munitions then withdraw back inside the building. Just before he pulls back inside one of the UK contingent, an ex-soldier called Harry, pulls the pins on two grenades and tosses them under a communications and command truck parked near the yard entrance. The first explodes while the rest of the Army troops start to respond, and the second explodes a few seconds later; it sets off the fuel pouring out of the fuel tank the first grenade split open. The subsequent fire soon envelopes the whole truck. A moment later the back door bursts open and two wounded men stagger out while flames and sparks can be seen behind them. That’s sure to put a big dent in their activities and coordination. A second platoon of the Leopards is soon ready to charge across the yard to storm the gym, none make it to the middle because fast and accurate single shots from the windows kill them. One of the senior officers in the building sends for more troops and he starts looking for General Marundi as they don’t know where he is because all of those who saw him enter the gym are dead.
Harvey, one of the Cable Company extras, takes a combat rifle with some extra magazines and climbs to the roof skylight. He’s very careful when opening it, and he studies the area around them. He can see over the side fence, and he watches where three generals are talking just outside the gate. Taking careful aim he fires three very quick three round bursts. The first two generals are dead before the third can react and jump to the side. This causes two shots to miss, but the third hits his shoulder and knocks him down, giving Harvey the opportunity to finish him. Taking out senior officers is sure to cause some disarray in the enemy command structure and delay a planned response. The troops near the generals are shocked by them being shot so they look around for the source of the fire, but by the time they look at the gym roof Harvey ceases fire and pulls back into good cover, so they see nothing.
In the gym Melissa checks her mobile phone and finds she has a connection to the service again, it was lost about ten minutes after the buses left the compound. She calls Steve again and gives him an update of the situation. Since the shooting has started she doesn’t need to speak in code and talks openly about them having weapons and holding off the troops. Steve promises to contact the President to have regular troops sent to support them as soon as they can. She reports the events at the orphanage as well, and informs him the orphanage is safe and the children will stay there until it’s over because they’ve Army protection already. Steve is glad of this and is surprised when told the name of the Captain in charge, because he recognises him as being one of the tribal leaders from the President’s tribe. He’ll see they stay safe because he has more than just Army resources he can call on if really needed.
Steve informs her the Leopards attacked the Parliament intending to take control, and they were repelled by extra troops hiding in and near the building. There was some heavy trouble with people already in the building, and two members of the Parliament were killed by security forces after they killed four others. The rebellion is already starting to collapse, but it’ll take time for all of the major players to be dealt with by either being killed or captured when they surrender.
New Attacks
Melissa hangs up when Harvey calls down to tell them some more troops and trucks are getting ready to charge in the gate. One of the USA people climbs up to him with more magazines for the rifle he has while Harry is given all of the grenades to use.
The trucks load up with troops ready to charge across the yard and in the doors. When they start to get under way in the street and turn into the entrance Harvey opens up on the drivers of the two lead trucks; killing them and causing the trucks to crash into the gateway, the next truck runs into them and jams the lot together, trapping the troops in the first two trucks. When other troops move forward to sort out the mess some spot and shoot at Harvey.
Down at ground level a small group bursts out of the gym and runs a few metres into the yard while they open up on all of the troops in sight, they’ve support fire from the gym windows. Harry goes forward with the group where he starts pulling pins and throwing grenades amongst the trucks stuck in the gates. They go off and several troops fall, due to the blast and shrapnel, while the fuel tanks are ripped open. After a few more grenades the trucks are burning pyres still full of troops while the rest back away from the fierce heat. Many of the angry troops turn toward the gym, and are surprised to see a strikingly beautiful red headed westerner and two other women standing beside the doors acting like they’re on a practice range while they take spaced shots at the Army troops in the yard as they provide the covering fire for the small strike team withdrawing into the gym. They can’t believe the women can be that good, but every shot sees another soldier die. It’s a moment before they get well organised, and it’s just in time to see the redhead backing into the doorway before it shuts.
Back inside the gym Melissa checks her troops, three light wounds, but nothing major. The gateway is well and truly blocked until the fire burns out and the trucks are removed, so that limits any more attacks to be by foot and through the main building. Three more times the Leopards attack, and are eliminated without getting any closer than the middle of the yard. The exits from the main building are limited and the defenders concentrate most of their fire on them, causing a pile up of bodies in each one, while leaving any who do get through to others who’re sweeping the yards. At the same time Harvey is taking every opportunity he can to fire at the troops forming up in the streets.
About ninety minutes after the General enters the gym there’s a lot of shooting in the streets, and Melissa assumes it’s support arriving. A few minutes later the shooting ends and all goes quiet. Melissa’s phone rings and she answers the call. It’s Steve and he says, “The President gave us permission to get some help and come give you a hand. But, by the look of things, you didn’t need us.”
She says, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, we’re down to our last fifty of so rounds. Thanks for the assistance. We’ll hold fire while you clear the main building, just don’t come out into the yard until I tell you to.” Hanging up she calls out to tell everyone what’s happening. They see many people moving about in the building, and a few shots ring out. Then her phone rings again and she talks to Steve, she finishes with “OK, you and two others come out the doors and walk to the middle of the yard.”
A moment later Steve and two US Marines take a slow walk out into the yard. After a short wait the gym door opens then Melissa walks out to meet them. A few words, and more Marines come into the yard to start checking the bodies. Once they confirm they’re all dead the rest come out of the gym. Tom and Vanessa have a trussed up General Marundi between them. With eyes very wide in shock Steve says, “You never said you had him prisoner. Everyone is worried because he’s still at large. Of his tribe’s seven senior tribal leaders five are now dead, one opposed the rebellion and is alive in their main compound - he was their prisoner, and the General is the last of their leaders to be accounted for.”
Melissa smiles while saying, “Good, take us to the Parliament building. I do hope all of the International media are still there.”
One of the Marine Sergeants looks at the small group who walked out of the gym while he walks up to ask, “Excuse me, Ma’am, but is that all there is of you? We expected more, since you’ve accounted for about twelve hundred of the Leopards.”
Tom decides to stir the pot by saying, “Twelve hundred, you mean we only got twelve hundred.” He turns to Melissa, “I told you to stop worrying about the kids and concentrate on this lot. See what your lack of concentration did, we left some of that regiment alive to hassle other people. You’re getting slack, Sis, or are you just slowing down in your old age?” The Marines are a very wide-eyed at this. She smiles at them and nods toward the main building.
Harvey comes out with Melissa’s briefcase and is very calm while he collects her guns, magazines, and throwing knives when he walks through their small group. The Marines are quick to form up around the group to escort them through the building to the front door, where they have some vehicles ready to take them to the embassy.
Melissa says, “Tom, Vanessa, Marundi, and I go to the Parliament building, take the rest to the Embassy, please, Steve. Also check on the orphanage.” Steve nods yes, and waves at the Captain in charge of the US Marines, he’s too stunned to do anything except what he’s told.
Parliament
The convoy moves off in two directions, the larger group to the US and Australian embassies while the smaller group goes to the Parliament building. Once there they go through the security provided by the Lions, and they receive word the children are just arriving at the Australian Embassy, delivered by a company of Lions. When they get out of the cars some troops recognise General Marundi and they want to take him from them. Melissa steps between them and her prisoner while saying, “You’ll leave my prisoner alone. You may follow us if you wish, but you won’t touch him.” Stunned and shocked the Major in charge nods yes, and he joins the line following her while talking into his hand held radio to his higher command.
Walking into the parliamentary chamber Melissa has Vanessa and Tom follow her while dragging the General between them. She walks to the Speaker’s position where the President is talking to the national and International media. Some members of Parliament recognise the General and call for his death. While she approaches the microphones the President steps to the side. When they walked into the building she’d heard the US Marine Major tell the Lions Major about the situation at their compound and she heard his surprise at what this woman had organised. When Melissa steps up to the microphones the two Majors walk over to talk to the President, and she watches his eyes go wide while she speaks. “Some years ago I asked a lot of people to help out this country because it was in the middle of a major medical problem and had seemed to put its past inter-tribal wars behind it. Today my children, my friends, their children, and I were caught up in that war. I’m not happy about this, not at all. I’ve relieved some of that stress on the companies of Leopards who were stupid enough to try and take me and my friends prisoner. Their families can collect their bodies at the compound we were staying at. I’ve kept their leader alive as my prisoner to bring him before this Parliament.” A few people gasp on being told about the Leopards while she waves to her side and Tom lift’s the General’s head up so that the media can get a good look at who it is.
One of the parliamentarians calls out, “Kill him and all of his accursed tribe.”
Melissa looks up, and is quick to identify the person who spoke. She says, “You, come here and stand beside this murderer of children. It’s people like you that create people like him.” She looks up at the crowd and the media while her image is being carried live around the world. “I’m a mother and I’ll do what I have to do to protect my children and any other children in my care, anything I have to do. I tell you all, this genocidal behaviour ends - now! It ends - today! It ends - right here, in this very second!”
The same man yells, “No, it ends when we kill all those scum.”
There are many shocked yells when they watch as a calm Melissa raises her right arm from beside her and points her Glock at the man, he starts to shake. She says, “It ends - now!” then she fires and shoots him, before turning to execute General Marundi. Looking up at the cameras she says, “The inter-tribal fighting ends right now, right here! Or you get to answer to me about it.” Very calmly she lowers her weapon and walks away. When she does Vanessa and Tom glance at each other, and drop the dead General before they turn to follow her.
Right across the country, and across the world, people are shocked she calmly shot both men in front of the media. The President walks up, and says, “I agree with Missus Melissa Cable, this inter-tribal fighting ends right now. No more retributions or paybacks by either side. In the past such things have been ignored, no more. All of the laws will be enforced to their full extent and no allowance will be made for tribal paybacks.” While Melissa leaves the chamber she hears the chamber cheer at such a public promise by the President, one they hoped to hear him make one day, but they hadn’t expected to hear it for many more years.
The ceremony for the next day is cancelled while the country goes about cleaning up from another internal conflict, one all hope is its last one, and things look to make it so.
The Australian Ambassador recommends Melissa and many others for bravery medals, and much discussion takes place in the halls of power in Canberra. What she and they did was more than worthy of the awards being asked, but the political fallout from the very public executions scares the politicians silly. Over the following weeks it’s clear there’s no bad International political fallout, because all of the media and politicians around the world applaud her direct action in ending the wars so wasteful of life and resources.
On Australia Day of the next year the group that went to Africa are asked to visit Parliament House where they’re given various bravery awards: two Group Bravery Commendations are issued with copies given to all involved, while some are given individual awards. Melissa and Harvey are recognised with individual awards of the Star of Courage, and several others receive the Bravery Medal.
Afterwards
It’s worth noting the rebellion is the last ever held in that country due to the current leaders of both major tribes working very hard to unify their country. For once they all find something to agree on, none of them ever want to piss off one Mrs Melissa Cable and have her come back to chastise them, no one from any tribe in the country.
Harry and the other non-Australian members of the group receive recognition of their parts in the action from their own governments.
One of the next year’s Cable Company fund raisers is the Melissa Charity Shoot where people from around the country come to test their shooting skills against Melissa and Harvey. It’s a well-attended event and it becomes a regular event for some years, too.
A few years later, when the United Nations starts to set up a special group to provide leadership and direction to many African nations the UN Secretary General is very surprised when the African nations are asked to nominate a head of the UN body and they all name the same person - Mrs Melissa Cable. The reasons they all put forward are: they know she has no special agenda of her own, she’ll take no rubbish off any of them, she won’t play favourites with anyone, and they all agree they need someone who can play hard ball with the best of them; and they already know she can. She’s honoured and accepts the position, then she spends a lot of time during the five years of her tenure in Africa to bring it out of the frequent inter-tribal conflicts that have been making it a bloodbath for many centuries.
Africa moves on and finally enters the twenty-first century; a few decades late, but finally there. The world moves on, life moves on, and Melissa and her family moves on as well.
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